Why not become a lifetime supporting member of the site with a one-time donation of any amount? Your donation entitles you to a ton of additional benefits, including access to exclusive discounts and downloads, the ability to enter monthly free software drawings, and a single non-expiring license key for all of our programs.

You must sign up here before you can post and access some areas of the site. Registration is totally free and confidential.

I saw the title of the thread and got all excited, but nobody has addressed the issue that troubles me. I cannot SEE with these awful replacements.

Where I live, it has been almost impossible to find a 100W incandescent for several years. In any event, I knew the end was coming, and so I started experimenting with different bulbs. NOTHING comes close to the efficiency of the now outlawed lighting I have enjoyed all my life.

My experience with LEDs has been even more disappointing than my experience with CFLs. Because the little desk lamp in my computer room, with its tiny bulb, puts out such nice bright light, I expected the same from whatever LED I put in my reading lamps. But, no. I cannot see. I read. I write, I work cross-word puzzles. I sketch. I paint my fingernails. And, what will happen when those big round bulbs that light my bathroom die? How will I see to apply make-up?

I haunt Lowe’s lighting section. They are tired of me, and my questions, and my returns. Packaging may say “Replaces 100W incandescents” but for light output, that just isn’t so. I don’t care about heat. I don’t care about electrical usage. I don't care about life span. I just want illumination.

For my reading lamps, which is what I really care about, 1600 lumens should work, but part of the problem is what Mouser said here: 3. Spotlight effect. The LED bulbs are more directional -- which can be especially troublesome for fixtures where the bulb is pointing up.

But I’ve also had noise and flicker from both CFLs and LEDs. Horrible, horrible, and no relief in sight.

I am so happy with my XP desktop. I don't want another computer. But, in self-defense, I'm saving pennies for another desktop, with Win7 installed, just before the market is flooded with Windows 8 monsters. It will probably sit in the corner, doing nothing until my current computer dies. Then I'll fix it up to dual-boot so I can still use XP.

To me, a computer isn't a toy, or an entertainment center, or a social event. I work with it. I need to see what I'm doing and I need upmteen apps open at the same time - in various sizes - so I can see them all at once.

When MS stops supporting the OSs of my choice, I'll use something else to dig around online, but with all the changes, cloud computing, Windows 8, there is less and less that that interests me. All the great software will die out (for those of us that are sticking to XP and 7) so that leaves only research to keep me online.

Late to the party but somebody said Ribbon! I, and thousands of others, despise the ribbon. I avoid any software that uses it. It takes up way too much room and, like that screenshot in Renegade's post, it's a cluttered mess. Too bad all software doesn't give users the choice. Download the app with the ribbon, or download the app without. Choices. My favorite thing!

I have a folder full of tiny utilities collected over time, single exes with maybe an associated .ini or a .hlp file. I suspect a lot of you have a similar collection. I could launch these using a launcher like FARR or Launchy but I rarely seem to remember their names. There are also occasions where I'm not sure I have the right tool for a job and need a quick look at what I have in a certain category... eg:networking

I figured the best way to do this would be to use tags and after trying some tagging software, none of which I cared much for, I've settled for a somewhat unconventional solution. I use Linkman to organize these files. The files can be dragged and dropped to the "Apps" folder in linkman, the Apps folder has ~apps in its comment keywords field. Each util gets a bookmark inside this folder with all applicable tags added to the comment field. So if I'm search for an app I type ~app (to get the url bookmarks out of the way) and follow it with whichever tags are appropriate. I haven't really committed to this system but I really like it. I'm curious what system others use to access these apps... (other than using your superior memories to remember their names, of course! )

Edit: Quicker/"dirtier" approach, just add the tags to the filename and use something like Everything to find them. The name length restrictions shouldn't pose much of a problem. Also takes care of portability. [Edit: Bad bad bad for command line utilities! ]

I use a laucher - BUT - For the times I don't remember the name, I use the old Win 3.1 method. On my desktop are several folders named: Arty, Games, Apps, Pims, Chores, Write, and Little Ones (for what you just said, those little ones). Inside each one are shortcuts to related applications. Click-click, click-click. Up jumps the program.

Computers are entirely different animals. Mine has its own room. It has two screens. I call them The Twins. It runs a writing program, a word processor, a database, and a note taker, an information manager, a dictionary, a thesaurus, and maybe a browser, while downloading email. The hard drive contains, besides the OS, upwards of thirty programs - all of which I use regularly. Do without it? I'd rather slit my throat.

Oh yeah. I have a laptop. Nice screen. I use it rarely. Only when I go out of town. I have one gadget, a cell phone. I use it to make calls.

Pulling his software does not have to negatively affect CNet at all for it to be worthwhile. Mouser is protecting *his* reputation and customer relationships by doing this.

That's the thing -- I'm not sure it will. Are the people that download from CNet likely to notice? Would it adversely affect an author's reputation? Would it improve it? After all, having a CNet wrapper could be interpreted as a CNet endorsement and could elevate some authors' software in some user opinions. Dunno.

I know what I think, and I've read what others here think, but seriously -- we're not representative of the larger public. Most people here are way too technically savvy to be considered 'regular users'.

I'm a tech dummy. Long time daily visitor to CNET. Used to spend hours (a few years ago) on the site digging through all the yummy software.

I can't remember how long ago it was, couple of years maybe, it all started sliding downhill. My searches (which turn up decent results everywhere else) give me nothing but odd suggestions, completely unrelated to the type of application I was looking for. That was only the first thing I noticed. I no longer look for software on CNET. I will absolutely not download anything. I've noticed the reviewers and bloggers I was used to are no longer there.

Several times, I've emailed them, or commented - where it can be seen publicly - about the breakdown of their website. No. They haven't fixed anything on my account. However, you guys should know that people are noticing. We are reading about it -gHacks for instance - and we aren't downloading. I go to MajorGeeks, SnapFiles, File Hippo, etc., etc.

George R. R. Martin has now sold more than fifteen million books worldwide, and his readership will likely multiply exponentially after the launch, this month, of “Game of Thrones,” a lavish HBO series based on “A Song of Ice and Fire.” He is committed to nurturing his audience, no matter how vast it gets. “It behooves a writer to be good to his fans,” he says. Still, a close relationship with one’s audience has its drawbacks. As Martin puts it, “The more readers you have, the harder it is to keep up, and then you can’t get any writing done.”

Still -- I wish he'd finish that book. And, I hope it's the last of the series because I doubt I'll live long enough for him to finish another. It's hardly "nursing" his audience when he leave us hanging for years, and years. If he's too busy because of his fans, he can move in with me and I'll protect him from them until he gets that $#?& book done!

I wish them the best- but their narrowed focus unfortunately means I won't have as much of a reason to keep track of them.

I agree. I'll still read it, but I wish they hadn't restricted their topic to browsers. If we're lucky, the change is in name only and they'll continue writing about the same topics.

No such luck. They're saying they want to write about browswers.

I miss the DS site. It was one my a.m. coffee stop offs. Because I like to read about shareware, my list grows shorter and shorter. While everyone else is moving to the cloud, I am spending less and less time on the internet. Hmmm.

I got a discounted license for Compare It back in May 2010. A waste of hard-come-by $. I was very disappointed to learn I can't edit .rtf files with it. What kind of crap is that??? Too bad it took me so long to figure it out. I had to install the freebie, WinMerge.

i've seen lots of good info on about.com pages; in fact i'd go so far as to say it's one of the rare cases where i get the feeling that the people maintaining the pages actually care about providing good and useful information.

Ok, yes, mouser is right. I have come across some good info there. I guess my complaint is more with the presentation...it's borderline annoying to me. Ok ok...I think i was a little hard on about.com. My main complaint is that, yes, there's pretty decent information there, but not the definitive kind of information that a real expert would give. It's more like an overview. Also, another thing that bothers me is that their links are always very prominent in google searches, and other more helpful articles will not be so easy to find. It's not about's fault, so I shouldn't say they are shitty. I'll revise that. My bad. Overreaction.

I'm late to the party as always. Just wanted to put in 2 cents. I started using about.com when I found my grammar wasn't quite as perfect as I'd long believed it to be. They were very helpful. Now may grammar is perfect

AA!! 40hz...that 4d thing looks great. There are too many good options for outlining out there!

I'm trying to figure out the best way to do all the stuff necessary to write a story with. I like Liquid Story binder as an all in one package, but these outliners and stuff have certain things that are very nice. Between InfoQube, Onenote, Evernote, now this...I don't know. I shouldn't stress...I should just use what I have and wait for the need to arise.

Thanks for telling, sazzen. Your post made me install Atlantis, and what a fine surprise it has already been. However, I also have WordWeb Pro 6, and when I (right-click a word in Alantis and) click 'Thesaurus', WordWeb will pop up and flicker extremely fast (more than maybe 10 times a second) and be useless. I must click Escape, to stop it. Do you have any problems integrating WordWeb Pro and Atlantis?

Besides, Atlantis gave me the same disappointing message that many other word processors also will give: "Sorry, our hyphenation module does not support your (Danish) language".

I never use the thesaurus in Atlantis - I use Mobysaurus instead - so I was unaware of the problem with WordWeb Pro. I always run WordWeb Pro separately. It sits there in the corner of my screen all day. Sorry about the Danish language problem. You might also have noticed that tables are absent from the program - thus far. In every other way the developers are responsive and helpful but only recently have they considered adding tables to Atlantis.

Did you purchase Surfulater? That is a very nice price for a very nice application - depending on what you want to use it for. I use it to store web pages. Yes, I have version 3, I have not upgraded to the newest version - yet.

It isn't impossible! I know because I don't have a little computer with a red X in my system tray. I'd love to tell y'all how I managed to get rid of it, but I haven't the foggiest. With the vast extent of my computer knowledge, I probably right-clicked on it and chose "Disappear".

My favorite version of MS Office was 2000 but I only had it on my computer for a few days. A tech installed it and I didn't think it was legal. Then I installed 2007. Hated it. Not only the ribbon (because it takes up so much room) but they destroyed Access (in my humble opinion) with that version. I hated Word after the 97 version and switched to Word Perfect. I have since acquired Office 2003. It's OK but I really preferred 2000. My need for Office has to do with Excel and Access.

I was lucky enough to get Ashampoo's office suite for free (not the 2010 version mentioned by Curt). It's pretty nice. Nice enough that I will never upgrade MS Office again. All I need from them is Access and I'll just keep the version I have.

I tried ALL (OK, I might have missed one) of the Win Explorer replacements a couple of years ago. This was the best. Unfortunately, it wasn't the one I purchased. And yes, tomos, that is a very nice license. They don't come any better.

Most people don't care about computers or computing or learning about same. They want to play games, tweet, twitter, facebook, chat, date, check out a little porn, maybe pay a bill or two - that's why we have Windows7, now, isn't it? - so they don't waste time learning what they don't need to know.

I wouldn't go so far as to call them stupid, just disinterested, and very funny!

A little off topic, I know; but only a little,... I need to ask for an advice:

I NEVER use my computer for gaming, but I have not been able to figure out what services, if any, to disable, in order to free a little more memory. Directions, please?

32-bits Vista Home Premium SP-1

I'm hanging on to XP but wanted to tell you that turning off a multitude of services I didn't use sped it up - hugely. I am not connected to a network so all the network stuff was using up system resources for no reason. If you aren't part of a network you should also reap good benefits by freeing yourself of services you aren't using. A search for Windows Vista Services will produce very good information on what you can and cannot disable.